See Megan Run (7 page)

Just kill me now
, Megan thought. If
that was the code word for horny, then, no, he didn’t feel well at
all. As a matter of fact, Megan wasn’t feeling so good, either. The
baked chicken refused to move down her throat. Chardonnay would no
longer suffice, but she’d settle for a glass of vodka. It looked
enough like water to fool them.

"That’s too bad," Nicole said, with actual
worry filling her voice.

Megan didn’t have to wonder whose side her
mother was on. Megan glanced at Shep. He’d taken the same high road
she had. He resembled a chipmunk from all the food in his
mouth.

"Megan, I hear you’re going to be a part of
the bridal party," Jocelyn remarked.

"Dragged and beaten, but yes."

Jocelyn didn’t even crack a smile. Food,
fork, mouth seemed like the only game plan Megan had in her
arsenal. She gave Jocelyn credit for being a mother bear and for
having caught Megan off her A-game. It didn’t matter. Nicole must
have cut out her own mother bear instincts with a rusty blade,
because she didn’t seem bothered by the feral gleam in Jocelyn’s
eyes. Megan kept stuffing her mouth, seeing an empty plate as her
only way to avoid "the talk" sure to come.

"You started a clothing store, right?"

The game plan was getting stuck in her
throat. She swallowed hard. "The Boutique." Good, a safe subject.
Megan could wax poetic about her store. "It’s targeted toward
women. Right now I’m getting ready for the winter season. When I
get back I’m going to start stocking boots, scarves, and
coats."

"Doing well, I suspect. You were always a
bright girl in school."

Jocelyn poised her knife and fork over the
chicken breast, making Megan feel like a barbarian for using only
her fork. Uncanny, really, how Jocelyn made Megan feel inferior
without saying a word. It had absolutely nothing to do with guilt
for leaving this woman’s son.

"It’s doing really well. Maybe in a few years
I’ll branch out and have a chain of stores."

"Still not planning on staying?" Jocelyn
placed into her mouth the smallest bite of chicken Megan had ever
seen. Dainty, deadly, coiffed, and regal.

Megan was doomed.

"I haven’t decided how I’ll work it out. The
Boutique is..." 
my life
. "Very important to me. I’ve
sacrificed a lot to get it open and keep it open. It’s something
I’m very proud of."

Jocelyn made a noncommittal noise. Megan
realized how she sounded, but she couldn’t seem to shut up, either.
Common sense told Megan to excuse herself and get the hell out of
Dodge. When had she ever listened to reason?

Now would be a good time
.

"So you’ll be living here part time?"

Megan could see the cowards, her mother and
Shep, in her peripheral vision, plowing through their plates. "I
don’t know. The idea of living here...my life is in the city."
Megan blew out a breath. She hadn’t thought past getting the house.
She repeated. "I don’t know."

"You’re going to let the house sit
empty?"

Jocelyn might as well have added, "Seems
wasteful, you ingrate," but that would be too direct, even though
Jocelyn could be direct, if she wanted.

"I’m trying to get through to the wedding,"
Megan replied. And did the whole town know her mother had to bribe
her to stay? Who needs paparazzi, when you have small towns?

Dismissing her with one last glance, Jocelyn
made small talk with Nicole. Megan finished her meal without
fanfare, only slightly disappointed at the new relationship between
herself and Jocelyn. At one time Megan had been able to tell
Jocelyn her secrets, her fears, the things she couldn’t muster up
the bravery to tell Jane. Now it felt as though, if given the
chance, Jocelyn would gladly stab her with one of the bobby pins
holding up her hair. Did no one have a clue why she’d had to leave
the way she did?

It didn’t matter. She’d be leaving again,
coming back only to visit Jane and to make sure squatters hadn’t
moved into her father’s house. Or staying a few weeks when she
needed a break from work. Well, if she ever took another break from
work.

She stabbed the baked chicken with her fork.
She would take another vacation. Soon. She just had to make it a
priority to come back to her father’s house. Otherwise
she 
was
 an ingrate.

She speared the last piece of chicken and
noticed how warm and open Jocelyn’s features were, now that she was
talking to someone else.

Megan was the outsider, no matter how much
her mother tried to fit her back in. Funny, it’d been the other way
around when she was growing up, and it was childish of Megan to
want it back to the way it was then. The conversation blossomed
around her about the wedding and about Reggie, who was one half of
the Baker boys, being arrested for fighting in Tessa’s and having
to spend a night in jail. Yes, definitely an outsider, without any
invitation to be a part of them. That was okay. She had her own
life at The Boutique. And at The Boutique... Twenty-six more days,
she reminded herself. It couldn’t matter. Megan planned to leave
Riverbed again unscathed.

*****

Aiden unlocked the precinct’s door and was
greeted with the smell of stale coffee and feet. He left the door
open to get a breeze and collapsed in his chair, closing his eyes.
Day two, and sleep still avoided him at night. This time he at
least had a reason. Every time he closed his eyes and drifted,
there was Megan again, but this time he knew how soft her skin felt
under his callused hands. He knew how her moan of pleasure affected
him. He knew more about his former ex than allowed for comfort.

He leaned back, about to put his feet on his
desk, when he heard a noise in the back where the overnight cells
were. His dilemma slipped from his mind and he groaned like an old
man as his body protested the movement required to stand. He yawned
and stretched and listened at the door leading to the back.

"Somebody out there?" a gruff voice
asked.

Aiden frowned, then grimaced. Reggie. He went
back to his desk and took out the keys to the jail cells. Reggie
had his hands clenched around the bars. "I had to sleep on this
concrete slab, because you forgot about me."

And still Reg looked better rested than
Aiden. "Sorry about that, but you needed some time to cool off. You
are not as young as you used to be, and starting fights at
Tessa’s—"

"Save it." Reg turned to retrieve his jacket
from the cot. "This has everything to do with that Megan girl you
used to be tied to."

Aiden opened his mouth to deny, but the old
man pulled himself up to his full height. Aiden tilted his head
back and listened.

"And Shep should have put things to rights
when you sat me in the back of that cruiser. Man’s gone soft, once
he got that Miller girl."

Aiden stuffed his hands in his pockets,
figuring he deserved this lecture. He’d been letting his emotions
run him ever since he pulled Megan over. He should have towed her
car. If he had, his world would have been set back to rights.

"Again, Mr. Baker, I apologize."

Reg snorted and passed him on the way to the
office. "Don’t ‘Mr. Baker’ me. Now, I promise to start no ruckus at
Tessa’s anymore." He turned to Aiden. "I’ll get her some flowers as
an apology, but if you come near me with handcuffs ever again, I’m
gonna have a talk with your mama."

"Yes, sir."

"Don’t ‘sir’ me," Reg grumbled.

Was this not proof on how far he’d gone?
Aiden shook his head. If it wasn’t wedding-related, he wasn’t
showing up to any function, house, tree, where he knew Megan would
be. "I hope you accept my apology."

Reg grunted. "Accepted."

As a parting shot, he slammed the door on his
way out. Aiden sighed and propped his feet on his desk, closed his
eyes once again and squelched all thoughts of Megan. He didn’t have
to see her until the wedding rehearsal. He’d have to cook his own
meals from now on, because even with a gun to his head he wasn’t
going to Nicole’s house anymore. Well…maybe he could get Shep to
bring him a plate. He’d started to doze off at the compromise when
he heard the door open.

"I hope I’m not catching you at a bad time."
The soft, seductive voice penetrated through to his sleep-deprived
brain. Well, shit. Aiden conceded he wouldn’t get a wink of sleep
until she was gone.

"Megan."

He wanted to see how she looked today, and
because he did Aiden kept his eyes closed. She must have moved
closer, because his next deep breath was filled with the scent of
her. Since he wasn’t masochistic, he opened his eyes. The blunt
ends of her bangs accentuated her chocolate brown eyes. They were
wide with uncertainty.

"We need to come to a truce."

Aiden crossed his arms. "Truce?"

"The argument we had yesterday."

"And?"

Her eyes narrowed, but she kept her tone
even. "I don’t think Shep and my mother would appreciate us
fighting down the aisle during their wedding. You’re the best man
and I’m the maiden of honor. We’re stuck for the duration. I think
it would be better if we tried to get along."

He relaxed, seeing the pros of the situation,
until she spoke again. "I know the way I left may not have endeared
me to you, but I think it’s worth a try. We don’t have to be
friends again. At best we can be mature about the situation and be
amicable toward each other."

Aiden gritted his teeth. What was with
everyone and the past? And amicable? She was asking for him to push
her buttons. "What you did is in the past." He matched her even
tone. " I haven’t thought about it in years. If you hadn’t showed
up I wouldn’t have thought twice about you."

Her eyebrows rose in disbelief. Too late, he
remembered his mother’s observation on his being a horrible
liar.

Megan mirrored his stance and crossed her
arms. "And what was yesterday?"

Me, needing to touch you
. The urge had
become too much for him to fight, with her being close enough for
him to finally touch again. " A mistake."

It was. He intended to keep her at arm’s
length, if for no other reason than to keep his sanity this time,
when she left. "It won’t happen again. Trust me, it was an error in
judgment on both our parts."

Aiden should have known better than to offer
the words as a challenge. Twelve years had passed, and Megan hadn’t
changed that much. She stepped closer. His heart thudded at the
close proximity. 
I’m not going to touch her. I’m
not
…

"I’m glad to have this understanding." She
placed a hand on his feet propped on the desk. "But are you sure
that you would say ‘never again’?"

Aiden stilled, recognizing the predatory
gleam. She put her other hand on the sheaf of papers lying next to
his boots.
I’m not going to touch her. I’m not
… The sound of
the door slamming made them both jump. Shep had just saved his
life.

"Morning, Shep." Megan moved both hands,
placing them at her sides. "Aiden."

He watched how well the skirt clung to her
well-rounded and fully-grown hips as she waltzed out the door. He
let out the breath he’d been holding.

Shep shook his head. "You’ll never learn,
boy."

Aiden shifted in his chair. His uncle didn’t
know how right he was.

Chapter 7

Megan closed her eyes against the pink, pink
and more pink ambiance in her old room. "How’s the business?" she
asked Lynne.

"Hello to you, too." Megan waited for the
sigh and wasn’t disappointed. "The sweaters sold out. I ordered
another shipment, this time with more cream, black, and eggplant
colors. Jerry called in sick yesterday. I told him just because the
boss lady’s gone doesn’t mean he can start slacking. He came in
today punctual and perky. I think the pep talk worked. What else,
what else? Oh, yes, you’re obsessing."

"Am not."

"Are to."

"Am not." Megan said it with a smile.

"How’s Aiden?"

The smile slipped as Megan paused.

"Ah, ha. Since I know sex is out, you must
have groped him. The pause says it all."

"I wasn’t sure how to answer."

"More like you were considering lying to
me."

Megan pursed her lips, because she had been
about to. "How are the numbers looking for the week? I was thinking
that we should start ordering boots for the winter. Possibly some
coats. The Indian summer should be starting soon."

"Changing the subject, I see."

Megan placed one of the lacy pillows over her
face. "We kissed."

"Sorry didn’t catch that. What? Are you
talking to me under the covers?"

"The pillow. We kissed." Megan pulled the
phone from her ear when Lynne screamed. She didn’t know her friend
had it in her. She waited a few seconds, then said, "This is not a
good thing. I did not come back home to start up a hot affair with
my ex. Things would only get worse. I plan to leave after the
wedding. I can’t do that to him again."

"Back up to before you threw all that
negative stuff in there. You kissed him. I’m surprised. Oh, and you
said hot affair. That is a very good thing."

"No, it’s a bad thing, a very bad thing."

"Not if it has you repeating yourself like an
excited schoolgirl."

Megan placed a hand over her lips and sighed.
"I’m trying not to complicate things." She focused on the pink
ceiling. "I need everything to go smoothly. I still suspect my
mother is ready to back out if I do something to piss her off. The
woman who birthed me is still in there somewhere."

"You might hate me or fire me after I say
this, but has it ever crossed your mind that your mother was
suffering from grief?"

"Grief doesn’t make you treat your child, the
only child you had by the man you love, the way she treated
me."

"You never said how she treated you, but I’m
just putting it out there—for the same reasons you stated, maybe
that’s why she couldn’t be around you. You hear about this stuff
all the time. People not being able to look into their children’s
faces because they see the person they want to see the most."